The Recruiting Guy

Hogs land highly touted athlete Byron Hanspard

Byron Hanspard
Byron Hanspard

One day after having a "phenomenal visit," athlete Byron Hanspard Jr. has committed to Arkansas.

Hanspard, 6-1, 188, 4.44 in the 40-yard dash, of Desoto, Texas, chose the Razorbacks over more than 15 scholarship offers from schools like Oregon, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Vanderbilt, Colorado, Mississippi State and Texas Tech.

He almost pledged to the Hogs while attending Arkansas' 31-10 victory over Florida but wanted to bring his parents to visit. The family visited Tuesday, and Hanspard saw enough.

"Like I said before, getting my family up and my parents involved in the process and seeing some of their DBs and corners and getting clarification about the things that were unclear to me and after getting that, that just sealed the deal for me," Hanspard said. "I'm done; I'm fully committed. I definitely can't wait to get on board and get up there."

His father, Byron Hanspard Sr., played for Texas Tech and won the Doak Walker Award in 1996. He and his wife were swayed by the trip, too.

"Once we saw the academic side, my parents saw what they needed to see, along with seeing the athletic facilities and walking the campus. ... You know kind of getting a feel for the campus and the people and the family atmosphere they had," Hanspard said. "They cleared up everything I needed."

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Hanspard, who's being recruited to play defensive back, had 40 tackles, 12 pass breakups, 3 interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery to help lead the Eagles to a 16-0 record and the Class 6A Division II state championship.

He told Coach Bret Bielema of his intentions around 3 p.m Wednesday.

"He was definitely pumped," Hanspard said.

The Hogs' two commitments, quarterback Connor Noland of Greenwood and linebacker Bumper Pool of Lucas (Texas) Lovejoy have been recruiting Hanspard for several months. On Tuesday, tight end Luke Ford of Carterville, Ill., started doing the same after his commitment to the Hogs.

"Luke got on me right after he committed," he said. "He DMed me, and we've been talking about it. He definitely did his part as well."

Hanspard is the Hogs' fourth commitment for the 2018 class.

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